Dijana Muminović

[Interviewed by Brent Björkman]

Dijana Muminović: “I think coming here for all five of us meant a totally different thing. And I think all of us brought different things, and none of them make sense now (laughs). There are nice to remember now and look at. It’s like today, you know, when you see refugees fleeing, you ask them, ‘what are you bringing with you?’, you know, and then, I compare the stuff that we brought, it’s ridiculously funny. Um–“

Brent Björkman: “Are they similar things? Or–”

DM: “Some are similar, some – uh – for me, I brought several things. One thing I had to bring was a periodic table that I made by myself because we didn’t have those in Bosnia. I brought my notebooks, just in case. I brought – I brought – I used to listen to the Backstreet Boys, so I had this whole, big book of like, their stickers, and like their albums, their lyrics, and everything and anything about them. And I made it by myself, and so [I] had to bring that. I brought a spoon, my favorite spoon. How can I leave without my favorite spoon? What else did I bring? We brought these blankets, that are – that you can find at any Bosnian house you got to, even today when you go to visit Bosnia, you find these blankets. And it’s like, we have to bring these blankets.”

BB: “Are they handmade blankets or just commercial blankets?”

DM: “Yes, and the usually have a big cat on it. Or a horse, some kind of animal on it, and you know, they were really, you know, they were known because of that… I – it’s – I think it was different for each one of us what we brought.”